Machine for and method of producing knitted puttees and the like



E. C. SCHWAB.

MACHINE FOR AND METHOD OF PRODUCING KNITTED PUTTEES AND THE LIKE.

APPLICATION man MAY1!,19I8- Patented July 13 1920.

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E. C. SCHWAB.

MACHINE FOR AND METHOD OF PRODUCING KNITTED PUTTEES AND THE LIKE. APPLICATION FILED MAY 11, 19I8.

1 34; ll 36 Patented July 13 2D 7 v 4 SHEEIS E. C. SCHWAB.

MACHINE FOR AND METHOD -OF PRODUCING KNITTED PUTTEES AND THE LIKE.

APPLICATION FILED MAY II, I9I8.

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EDWARD C. SCHWAB, 6F MIL'WAUKEE, "WISCONSIN, ASSIGNGR TO PHOENIX KNITTH'IG TITUBKS, 0F IVIILVVA'UKEE, 'WISCONSIN, A CORPORATION 0F WISCQNSIN.

TilCACll'IlllZ'b Film AND METHQD OF PRODUCING KNITTED EUTTEES AND THE L'EKE.

reac es;

- specification of Letters Extent.

Patented July as, loan.

Application filed May ll, 1918; serial No. 234,013.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that l, EDWARD C. Sonwne, a citizen of the United States, residing at Milwaukee, in the county of Milwaukee and State of Wisconsin, have invented a certain new and useful llinprovement in Machines for and Methods of Producing Knitted Puttees and the like of which the following is a full, clear, concise, and exact description, reference being had to the acconipanying drawings, forminga part of this specifics. tion. 1

My invention relates to knitted puttees and method of making thesaine.

Puttees of the type to which my invention relates, consist of strips of material adapted to be worn by wrapping the same spirally As heretofore constructed they have consisted of flat, straight strips of material. As the shape of the members upon which they are to be wound, is not cylindrical but is tapered, have found that difficu-lty is encountered in applying and wearing the puttee thus constructed. My invention aims to provide a knitted puttee of such shape as to fit the shape of the member upon which it is to be wrapped.

l attain this broad aim by knitting the strip in the fornipf a curve.- in order carry out my invention, 1 have found it neces'sary'to devise improved apparatus and method of operation to secure the desired results.

it do not intend to limitthe invention to puttees only, as it is obvious that the invention may be applied to bandages or other rticles of wearing apparel, either temporary or permanent.

ln order to apprise those skilled in the how to construct and use my invention, it shall now describe a particular embodiment of the same in connection withthe acoonr panying drawings which form a part of this specification.

Figure 1 is a fragmentary front elevation of a machine embodying rny improvement for Knitting the puttee of my invention;

Fig. 2 is a cross sectional view taken on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1',

Fig. 3 is a plan view on an enlarged scale v over that shown in Figs. 1 and 2 of the takeoff mechanism which I employ for keeping the fabric under proper tension as it is being knitted; and

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary isometric view lllustrating the setting of the needles in the needle plates and the relation of the same with respect to the comb plates;

As shown in Fig. 1,, the completed strip 1 from which the puttee is made comprises a knitted fabric having a' greater length of loops upon the convex edge than along the concave edge.

l secure this result by the use of three cooperating rnechanisrhs in the knitting inachinefinamely, by setting the needles which form the loops so that longer loops will be formed upon the convex side than on the concave side of the strip, supplying yarn at a greater rate to these loops of greater length,

and finally arranging the tension or draw-0d mechanism so that the loops of greater length will be drawn oft faster than will be the shorter loops.

The needles on the front side of the machine are mounted in a needle frame preferably comprising three needle plates 2, 3 and e: which are bolted by means of the bolts 5 to the transverse needle bar e. lhe needles are set in the needle plates with their ends projecting therefrom a greater distance at one end of the plate than at theother end,

the needles therebetween having substantially uniform inclination or grading from' The the one end of the plate to the other. needles are so arranged in the needle plates that when several of these plates are grouped together as shown in 1 and i the clination or rise from the end needle desigignated hot the needle plate i to the end needle designated B of the needle plate 2 will be substantially uniform. The. needles of the needle frarne comprising the plates 2', 3 and i are set with their ends substantially parallel with the ends of the needles of the plates 2,-3 and d'respectively.

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lt is to be understood thatthis arrangemerit of the needles on an incline is fo'r'the purpose of securing a greater length of loops on the one side of the fabric than upon the other, the loops therebetween being uniformly graded. Although l have shown the needle plates arranged on the drum 48 and away needle bars 6 and 28 in groups comprising three plates each this is not essential; a greater or less number of plates may be employed in each group, and in fact the number and size of the groups employed depends upon the width of the knitted fabric de-.

sired; the curve or shape of the fabric depending upon the angle of inclination of the of the plate 9. This arrangement is simpler to attainin practice and provides an approximate uniform grading from one end to the other.

The needles are supplied separately with yarn for making the different lengths of loops. ll have provided the spools, or drums 10, 11 and 12 for supplying yarn 30, 31 and 33 to the needles 26 and 27. T havefound that owing to the different rates at which the yarn is drawn from these spools or drums due to the needle arrangement such separate sources are necessary.

The spool or drum 13 supplies a wool or cotton filler 34:, if the same is desired.

The knitted strip 1 passes down between thecomb' plates 14 and 15, and is drawn away at a predetermined rate by the conical rollers 16. These-rollers are surfaced with a rough material, such as sand or emery paper (or cloth). The strip 1 passes around a part of the roller and is gripped between the roller and a small spring press gripping roller, and then passes over the revolving I from the machine.

The gripping roller 17 is pivoted in a yoke 18. The yoke 18 is mounted upon a .sliding bar 19, suitably supported upon the bed or frame 20 in the guide 21. The spring 22' is attached at one end to the guide 21 This spring presses the gripping roller against the strip of fabric so as to cause the same to be fed forward by rotation of the conical feed or tensioning roller 16.

The comb plates 16l-15' are provided at their upper ends with small separating plates or teeth 24, with spaces 25 between them for guiding the individual needles 26, which are all similar in structure. The comb platesare stationary, serving as guides for the needles. Upon the outside of the comb plate 15 there is mounted a needle bar.28 similar to the needle bar 6 previously described. This needle bar 28 bears the needle the plates 2', 3' and 4: having needles 27 similar in all respects to the needles 26, being dimechanism which alternately moves these plates up and down. As this part of the mechanism forms no part of the invention, and is understood by those skilled in the art, we shall not'describe the same in detail;

As is well understood by thoseskilled in the art, the alternate up-and-down movement of the needles is for the purpose of forming the individual loops. It will be noted that the needle designated A will be drawn down -farther in the comb plates 1l15 than the needles designated B the distance the needles therebetween are drawn down inclining uniformly from one end to the other.

The yarn feeding mechanism feeds the yarn to the needles in such manner that on the front of the fabric the chain loops are linked with the adjacent chains.

The oscillating frame 35, which is pivoted on the bar 36, swings to the left and right as shown in Fig. 2 by the dotted and full lines, respectively. This swinging frame 35 bears the eye-rods 37 and 37 which bear the eye-plates 38 and 39.

Individual eyes 40 and 41 corresponding in number to the needles 26 and 27 are mounted upon the eye-plates 38 and 39, respectively. The ends of the eyes terminate in substan ially the same plane. The purpose of t e eyes 4:041 is to bring the threads of yarn properly about the needles for forming the loops and for laying in the filling material where the filler is used.

' A pair of wires 42- 14: are set along the frame of the machine, adjacent to the needles 26'and 27 so that as the needles 26 rise past the wire 42, the latches 43 of the needles 26 will be opened. In the downward direction, when the needles move past the Wire 42, the latches will be closed. The wire 44: performs a similar function in connection with the needles 2?.

It is to be understood that the device I have described is not the only form in which my invention may appear.

The important feature of the invention is the formation of the strip on a curve, as is clearly shown in Fig. 3.. To secure this, the feeding of the yarn at difierent rates to different needles, the movement of the needles to secure longer loops and the operation of the take-off mechanism to draw the material faster on the side on which the longer loops are formed, all cooperate to secure the de-,

' frame having a row of needles guidedin said comb plate and separate means for feed ing yarn at a greater rate along the needles on one edge of the row than along the other edge of the row.

2. In combination, a comb plate, a needle frame having a row of needles guided in said comb plate, means for supplying yarn at a greater rate to part of the needles of the 'row and tension means for taking off the product at a greater rate from said part of the needles which are supplied with yarn at a greater rate.

3. In combination, a needle frame having a plurality of needles arranged atdifferent heights with respect to the comb plate, a comb plate for said needle frame, an eye frame having a plurality of eyes for feeding yarn to said needles, means for reciprocatiiig the needles to form loops and means for ioving the eye frame to loop the yarn about said needles.

4. In combination, a needle frame having a plurality of needles arranged at different heights with respect to the comb plate, a comb plate for said needle frame, an eye frame having a plurality of eyes for feeding yarn to said needles, means for reciprocatingthe needles to form loops, means for moving the eye frame to loop the yarn about said needles, and separate means for feeding yarn at difierent rates to said needles.

5. In combination, a needle frame having a plurality of needles arranged at difi'erent heights with respect to the comb plate, a comb plate for said needle frame, an eye frame having a plurality of eyes for feeding yarn to said needles, means for reciprocating the needles to form loops, means for moving the eye frame to loop the yarn about said needles andtake-off means comprising a conical roller for applying the proper tension to the fabric.

' 6. A'knitting machine having a pair of comb plates, needle frames having needles cooperating with 'said comb plates, the needles .at one end of at least one of said frames being of greater height than those at the other end of'said frame, a pair of eye plates, having eyes for feeding yarn to said needles and means for moving the eye plates to formloops of yarn about said needles,

7 The process of manufacturing a substantially arcurate knitted strip, which comprises forming the loops of one side of the fabric of a, substantially different length from the loops of the other side of the fabric and maintaining the fabric thus formed under an 'even tension as it is drawn from the machine.

8. In a knitting machine, a plurality of consecutively arranged groups of needles,

each of said groups of needles being adapted to form loops of a substantially different length, an independent source of yarn for each of said groups of needles and means for maintaining the fabric under an. even tension as it is drawn from the machine.

9. In a knitting machine, a pair ofneedle bars, a plurality of groups of needles secured to said needle bars, each of said groups of needles being adapted to form loops of substantially difi'erent lengths, an independent source of yarn for each of said groups of needles and atension roll comprising a conical surface for maintaining the fabric under an even tension as it is drawn from the machine.

10. In a knitting machine, a pair of needle bars, a plurality of needle plates arranged in groups on said needle bars, each of said groups of needles extending at a substantially different height from said needle bars, an independent source of yarn for each of said groups of needles and a tension roll comprising a conical surface for maintaining the fabric under an even tension.

11. A. machine for producing a knitted fabric having means including a series of needles arranged to drawloops of greater length at one part than at another part of the fabric,means-for feeding yarn to said needles, means for actuatlng said needles,

and means for drawing off the fabric at a greater rate fromthe needles which form the longer loops.

In witness whereof I hereunto subscribe my nam'e this 6th day of May, A. D. 1918.

' EDWARD cyscnwan. 

